Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Adopts Gender-Inclusive Policy for Homecoming Court

We are so here for this!

The Maryland school recently adopted a gender-inclusive policy for its homecoming court, meaning that the school's kings and queens don't have to be males and females, respectively. The school's Student Government Association voted 4–1 to enact the change that will let the student body elect two individuals to represent their school, The Washington Postreports. Students who are crowned will be given the opportunity to choose the title ("king," "queen," or "royalty") that will be used to introduce them during the school's homecoming football game.

“It provides an opportunity for all students to be involved in something that was exclusionary,” Jacob Rains, president of the school-wide Student Government Association, tells The Washington Post. “It is really not our job, especially with a gender-neutral and transgender population at B-CC, to tell people that boys have to be kings and girls have to be queens. Who are we to put people into those categories?”

Along with the change to the homecoming policy, the school also decided to open another gender-neutral bathroom. Even though we as a society have a long way to go to making sure people with all gender identities feel safe and included, this is at least a step in the right direction, and sets an example for other schools around the country. And this isn't the only school to make a move like this: In May, two teens successfully banished gender-coded graduation gowns, and for the past year, several North Carolina teens have fought against House Bill 2 to get more all-gender bathrooms into public areas. And, last September, a teen in Missouri made history as the first transgender student in the school to be named homecoming queen.